Page 135 of Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

CHAPTER 7

LEX

Garrison dashed through his patio’s open sliding glass door, carrying a glass food container. “Got it.”

“Did you season it?”

Garrison paused. “Should I?”

I laughed. “Just giving you shit, but you have leftover cooked unseasoned steak? I’m genuinely worried for your tastebuds.”

He grinned at me before pulling the chunk of thick steak out by his fingertips and waving it in the air. Maybe nuking it was a good call because Scout’s body tensed as his attention darted directly to the chunk of sad-looking meat.

“C’mon, Scout. Want this?” Garrison blew on the steak in Scout’s direction before lifting it toward the roof by the top of the ladder. He gripped the ladder with his free hand.

I moved close to the ladder to hold it for sturdiness from the other side while Scout inched closer, sniffing.

“Want this? It’s a nice cut of meat. If you come off the roof, it’s all yours, buddy.” Garrison shook the steak as Scout tentatively set a paw on the ladder.

Scout bared his front teeth and took tiny bites of air as he craned forward toward the meat. Garrison lowered it as Scout moved more of his body onto the ladder.

“Think I should toss it on the ground? This might go better if he runs down the ladder. I worry a slow descent might increase his risk of missing a step.”

“Good call. If it doesn’t work, we can try something else.”

Garrison waved it in front of Scout again as the dog bit at the air. Then he tossed it at the base of the ladder, and Scout raced down the rungs in a beige blur.

I nearly collapsed from relief. I didn’t have to call the owners and get them involved. Though, I had to report what happened because they needed a new leash.

“Thank you so much. The steak was a brilliant idea.”

Garrison folded the ladder. “Glad it worked. I’m going to put this away before he races back up, chasing something else. I think the rope I have is in the shed.”

Scout had the steak gobbled up in a flash, then moseyed around the yard, sniffing out all the new scents. I winced when he took a piss on the cherub statue next to the rhododendrons.

Garrison saw him and chuckled. I appreciated how good-humored he was. He had every right to be standoffish, given I had infiltrated his office unexpectedly and embarrassed him in front of his colleagues. I was glad to get another chance to connect with him. Now, I needed to figure out how to extend our time together once we got Scout back to his place.

Garrison whipped out some knot-tying skills to create a handle on one end of the rope, then crouched. “Come here, Scout. Good boy. Sit. Such a good boy.”

Scout panted happily as Garrison tied the rope to his collar.

“It makes me nervous to use rope like this, but it should be fine for the quick trip back to his place, right?”

I nodded. “Better that than him running off onto someone else’s roof. Especially if the rain hits like it looks like it might.” I jerked my chin toward the ominous clouds rolling in. We were lucky we had a break in the rain while sorting out Scout.

We loaded Scout into Garrison’s sleek Audi. I’d never been in a car so fancy, and I’d sure as hell never owned a car with a screen. I’d grown up lower middle class, and life as a grad student and adjunct instructor was barely above the poverty line most months. But a rant about grad programs preventing doctoral students from having outside jobs would have to wait for another day. One where I didn’t have the charming Garrison Harrison in my presence.

“Should we wipe his feet off? What if he gets mud in your car?” The car was clean and clutter-free and even had a faint new car smell. I had a bout of self-consciousness over the state of my car. It wasn’t a trash heap, and I kept it fairly tidy, but I hadn’t done a detailed cleaning in, uh, maybe ever?

“Nah. I’m not worried about a little mud. I can always clean it.” He tossed me a casual smile as he pressed the start button.

I relaxed into the seat and stopped fretting. If he wasn’t worried, why should I be?

It only took a couple of minutes to get over to the house.

“I’ll walk to the door with you in case he bolts, but I’ll stay outside. I don’t want to get you in trouble by letting nefarious strangers into their house.” His devilish grin sent flutters through my stomach.

Scout eagerly trotted to the side door as I pulled my phone out to get the code ready.

“Be right back.” I smiled at Garrison as I closed the door behind me.

I untied the rope from Scout’s collar, set the broken leash on the kitchen counter, then pulled out treats for Scout from the container like I’d been directed to do after the walk. All the while, my stomach fluttered. With Scout safely back in his house, it was just Garrison and me—no canine buffer.

Sure, our chemistry had moments where it popped and sizzled, but would it last when we moved to actual conversation? Garrison intrigued me, but getting my hopes up scared the hell out of me. How could something so promising be real?

Before leaving the house, I sent a note in the dog-walking app to the owner to let her know Scout was back in the house and what happened so she wasn’t caught off guard by the broken leash.

“Take care, Scout.” I tossed him one more treat. He deserved it for throwing me back in Garrison’s path. Furry little Cupid. It was almost Valentine’s Day, after all.

I made sure the automatic lock engaged behind me after closing the door.

Garrison studied a shrub with the eye of someone always thinking of his own landscaping.

“Thanks for your help. Sorry to disrupt your afternoon.”

He turned toward me with a friendly and earnest smile. “Not a disruption at all.”

I stepped closer. “Now that Scout’s eaten your dinner, what are you going to do?”

His lazy grin was sexier than it had any right to be. “I’m sure there’s something else in my fridge I can ruin.”

“I believe I owe you the best sandwich of your life. What do you say we hit the market and I fix dinner?”

Garrison lit up. “I’d love that. Want to follow me back to my place? I can drive us to the store since you’ll be cooking.”

“Sounds great.”

I spent the solo drive giving myself a pep talk to not fuck this up. Whatever “this” was. I parked on the street in front of his house and transferred from my car to his.

“Why does my ass feel warm?”

Garrison laughed as he backed out of his driveway. “I turned on the seat warmers since it’s cool out. Temperature turns frigid when it gets dark.”

I’d never had a car new or nice enough for that feature. “Why do I feel like I just peed my pants?” I tried to subtly check the fabric to make sure it was dry.

“I had the same problem at first. You get used to it,” he said through laughter.

While we drove, a question grew in my mind until it morphed into an elephant sucking up all the oxygen in the car. “Any chance you swung by the sandwich shop this week? I only work part-time, so I wondered if I’d missed you.” I faced the window. Ugh. I sounded so needy. Hey, I thought we had a moment while I was nearly naked and grinding all over you. I hoped you’d come back to my deli job.

He cleared his throat. “I’d planned to tomorrow. I was out of town for a couple of days and had a lunch meeting today.”

I faced him. “Yeah?”

He looked at me when he reached a stop sign. “I was worried you’d think it was creepy. I figured you get a lot of guys trying to seek you out outside the club.”

That was very considerate. It made me twitchy that he ticked so many of my boxes. The red flags had to start popping up eventually, right? Though not liking pickles was at least a pale red flag. Who didn’t like pickles? On the other hand, dating him could mean double the pickles. And just like that, the red flag turned green.

“I don’t work tomorrow, so I would’ve missed you anyway.” I flashed a grin. “I figured I’d ruined the place for you with all the pickles.”

“If the sandwich you’re promising is as good as you say, I’d be willing to try the place again.” He winked.